Gabriele Leite, a former Brazilian sex worker set up clothing label Daspu (from Portuguese slang “das putas” – the whores) four years ago. Daspu’s first fashion show was held in August 2009, with local sex workers as models presenting the new collection on the catwalk. Leite’s vision was to provide regular income to sex workers and to fight preconceptions of people with aids. The profit goes to programs which combat STD-s.

Gabriele Leite, a former Brazilian sex worker set up clothing label Daspu (from Portuguese slang “das putas” – the whores) four years ago. Daspu’s first fashion show was held in August 2009, with local sex workers as models presenting the new collection on the catwalk. Leite’s vision was to provide regular income to sex workers and to fight preconceptions of people with aids. The profit goes to programs which combat STD-s. “When my hooker girlfriends parade pretty and proud − says Leite, who favors regulating prostitution rather than criminalizing it − they are speaking about themselves and become revolutionaries.”